


Bitten | Tim Drake and Dani Woods Twilight AU

by TheBlueMatrix



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Batman Fusion, Alternate Universe - Twilight Fusion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28776810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlueMatrix/pseuds/TheBlueMatrix
Summary: Danielle Woods had been visiting a university in Gotham City, New Jersey and befriends one of the students; a young man named Tim Drake. She hopelessly fell in love with him, though one fateful night, after Tim graduated college, Dani sinks her sharp, venomous fangs into him and later transforms him into a vampire. Tim had encountered vampires and werewolves before, he had once lived with them.As a newborn vampire, which he hated being, Tim must learn to control his bloodthirst and get used to his new superhuman abilities with his girlfriend as his instructor. The Batman family soon uncovers this secret that Tim and Dani kept from them and engages in aggressive negotiations.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Orignal Female Character





	1. Venom

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: A lot of dialogue (I can't help myself) and occasional heavy language (censored)!

We’ve been dating for over four years now and I still had him fooled into mistaking me for a human. Every night, I always enjoyed watching him sleep; he’s adorable. I would always lay in bed with him through the entire night, it’s the only time I could regain my energy and cool off from heating myself to ninety-eight degrees fahrenheit all day. I hadn’t slept in a hundred and sixty-two years, so watching him always brought me to zen. But this night, this one night, everything changed.  
We had a heavy make out session in the bedroom. It was night, the lights were off, and police sirens howled throughout the city. I had Tim against the wall, we were balanced between hugging kisses and open mouth; my shirt lifted under his arms, he held me tight and against his body. I began to kiss his jaw, then drifted down his neck. He smelled and tasted so succulent, it was irresistibly quenching. I felt something rip control out of my grasp; my teeth breached his skin and the taste of his blood made my mouth water; it was an outburst of flavor. Tim’s grip on me tightened, his fingers clenched and his nails dragged against my back. He groaned, grunted loudly in response to the agonizing pain, but restrained himself from screaming. His grip then weakened, his noises softened. I had to remove the monster from the driver’s seat before I could kill him, I yanked my fangs away from his neck. Tim’s eyelids twitched and his balance wobbled, his consciousness faded away into the shadows of darkness. His limp body trampled me to the floor; I wasn’t equipped or ready to carry a hundred and forty pound man that’s nothing but muscle, brains, good looks, and sweetness. I struggled to get him off me, turn him over and hold him in my arms without damaging him even more. He sat between my legs, back leaned against my torso and head rested on my shoulder. Tim slept soundly, all was silent but his deep breathing. I was well aware that deep breathing leads to great meditation, and Tim was able to meditate to continue listening when he would get drugged to unconsciousness or to lower his heart rate, but he lost consciousness due to blood loss. I began to rage in my thoughts; why the hell did you do that for!? Did I kill him? He’s going to be so mad when he wakes up! Will he still love me? Carlisle didn’t help you for this! For a doctor, Danielle, that was a really stupid move! Oh, he’s gonna hate me! I tried so hard to resist the temptation to turn him! I’m a monster… At least I can’t hurt him anymore…  
Tim began to move like he just woke up from a nap after a day, and I hadn’t moved since. My arms slipped off him as he moved and sat up. His waist twisted so he could look at me, then the rest of his body followed. I made sure to keep my heat up so he couldn’t tell that I’m a vampire. I was so happy to see that Tim wasn’t gone forever that I kissed him. His lips were ice cold instead of warm, they didn’t taste the same, and he didn’t smell the same. When our lips departed, I stared into his eyes like he was different, which he was way different, I wasn’t used to seeing his eyes red like rubies instead of blue like topazes. Or the ocean. He looked at me like he was concerned. “Is something wrong?”  
“No,” I lied, “I’m just happy to be with you,” I smiled to hide my pain and shame. My voice was weak, heart shattered, cheeks faded to pink. I felt the urge to cry. “Please don’t hate me…”  
“Hate you?” Tim wrapped his arms around me for my comfort. “What are you talking about? Why would you say that?”  
I couldn’t answer, I lost my words to my emotion. I snuggled in his arms and buried my face in his shoulder and cried, Tim stroked my head and quietly hushed to calm me down. When I finally did, I relaxed, my body temperature dropped--And Tim noticed. “Dani, are alright? Why do you feel so cold all of a sudden?”  
“I’m sorry…”  
“Hey… You can stop apologizing, okay?” He wiped his thumbs across my cheeks to erase my tears and cupped my jaw. “I love you, and that’s all that matters. But I don’t understand why you feel so cold by the touch, you have me worried.”  
“So do you… You’re ice cold.”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“I am so, so sorry!” My eyebrows curled up even further and tears rushed from my eyes and crawled down my pale, dry cheeks.  
“Calm down, love, none of this is your fault--”  
“Yes it is!”  
“Help me understand, shutting me out this way is unhealthy for our relationship.”  
“You wouldn’t like me if you knew.”  
“You are making no sense. If there’s something you want me to do, just tell me.”  
I wanted to tell him that he was a vampire, but I couldn’t muster the courage to. “Go look at yourself in the mirror.”  
Tim got up and entered the bathroom, when he turned on the light, he was silent. “What did you do?” He shut off the light, I felt his steps on the floor in the bedroom, they were heavier, he was stomping in a way. “Danielle, I need you to tell me the truth. What did you do to me?”  
“I swear I didn’t mean to! At first, we made out, then the next thing I knew, I was drinking your blood! I stopped immediately after I got my control back--”  
“Control? You’re telling me that you turned me into a vampire because you lost your way? Well that’s just great! You turned me into the one thing I swore not to become: a killer! A monster! Now I have to kill innocent people in order to survive!”  
“There are other ways you can survive without feeding on human blood.”  
“Oh yeah? Like what?”  
“I was taught by vampires who called themselves vegetarians, they drink the blood of animals instead of humans, which is why I was able to resist your blood until now.”  
“That’s even worse! I would rather starve to death than kill or have blood even touch my lips.”  
“I told you you would hate me. Your red eyes never lie. The color of rage, hate, infuriation, it leads to many fights and breaks the hearts of many, it sets two people apart, possibly forever,” I cradled myself in a ball and rocked back and forth. “I understand why you would want to break up with me--And if you are, just do it. Even when you’re gone, you will forever have a special place in my heart,” I buried my face in my knees and sobbed.  
“Dani,” Tim squatted next to me and rubbed his hand on my curved back. “I’m not going to break up with you. I mean, yeah, I’m angry and irritated, and I don’t like you right now because it is your fault. But what you just said reminded me why I love you. I love you for who you are, not what you are. What matters most is what’s on the inside, right?”  
I hugged him tightly and jammed my face into his chest. “I am so sorry, I really am! I don’t know what came over me.”  
Tim wrapped his arms around me in a secure manner, “It’s okay. I know I scared you, but I’m here now, you’re safe,” he kissed the top of my head. “You didn’t have to hide your identity from me. You're not the first vampire I’ve met--Jason was.”  
“At least now I don’t have to worry about hurting you anymore… I love you so much, Timothy…”  
“I love you, too…”  
After a bit, my tears were gone and I detached myself from him.  
“Oh. Are we done?”  
I stood, “No, I just need to get my contacts out, stay there,” I headed straight to the bathroom to pick the colored lenses from my eyes.  
“You wear contacts?”  
“Yeah, I only wear them in public and around you. They make me look more human, y’know?”  
“Uh-huh… So what color are your eyes normally?”  
“Gold,” I finished removing the turquoise-colored contacts from my eyes and approached Tim.  
“Are you sure? Because your eyes are red.”  
“That’s because I drank human blood, your blood. It won’t last long.”  
“Then why are mine red?”  
“Because you, mister, are a newborn. All newborn vampires’ eyes are red, it only lasts until you do something about your diet, then they’ll fade to gold after drinking animal blood,” Then I went back to hugging and cuddling with Tim.  
“Good to know,” Tim paused for a moment as he held me in his cold, but somehow warm arms. “You know that bed is useless now, right? Vampires never sleep.”  
“Well… There is one thing.”  
“Don’t say it.”  
“Sex.”  
“You said it.”


	2. Psychic Boyfriend's Playground

Two weeks had passed and Tim still refused to drink blood of any sort. If Tim doesn’t drink blood anytime soon, he’ll die. He would become weak and grow weaker the longer he’s without blood, he would eventually become so weak to the point of death. I tried convincing him to give animal blood a taste, I’ve seen him look with thirst, but still refuses to drink. Tim expressed how much his throat was burning like hell; he can barely talk because of it. He tried water before to hydrate, and I warned him it won’t help, but he didn’t listen. He ended up coughing it back up in the toilet. I have to give him credit for how much he’s trying to be human, to stick to his human ways; it’s honorable. But he has to learn to embrace his vampirism the vegetarian way. The way I never got to experience in my newborn year.  
“Timothy, dude! You need blood, your eyes are black! You can’t keep yourself locked away in here forever!” I complained. “That’s it, we’re going.”  
“Where, exactly?” Tim tried his best to ignore his hellishly scorching throat.  
“Out,” I took Tim’s keys and went straight to the bathroom.  
“In my car?” Tim followed me.  
“Yes.”  
“What makes you think you’re driving?”  
“Your thirst--Plus, you don’t know where we’re going.”  
“Okay, where are we going?”  
“Not telling you, and don’t bother trying to get the chance to drive, ‘cause you’re not getting it,” I opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed two contact lens containers and handed one to him. “I took the liberty of getting you colored contacts the other day when I went hunting.”  
Tim opened the container and saw the blue colored contacts lying inside.  
“I thought topaz blue was the closest to your original color. They remind me of the ocean just like yours did.”  
“That’s… Exactly what my eye color used to be,” Tim moisturized one of the lenses and carefully placed it on one of his black eyes, then did the same thing for the other eye. He stared at himself in the mirror and took a moment. “It’s like it never happened.”  
“That’s what it looks like,” I glimpsed outside the bedroom window. “Good thing it’s raining, otherwise you would be sparkling in the sunlight--You would look like you swam in glitter.”  
“And you wouldn’t?”  
“No, I would,” I placed one of my turquoise lenses on my eye. “I’m just saying,” I finished and took both containers with me, then straight to the front door. “You comin’?”  
“Guess I don’t have a choice,” Tim met up with me at the door. We left the apartment building and approached Tim’s black 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Restomod with two matte black stripes along the hood to the tail. “I’m driving.”  
“No, no you’re not. Besides, I still have the keys,” I dangled them in front of our faces, Tim tried to snatch them as they jingled in my hand, but I pulled them away. “Nope,” I teased with a smile.  
I walked to the drivers side of the car, unlocked it, and we sat inside. I slid the key in its slot and turned, the engine roared beautifully, I was able to feel it in the wheel and the car itself. I ran my hands along the black leather wheel, it was smooth and soft in a way, but grippy. “Whoa. Now I see why you don’t let me drive. It feels amazing! Okay, let’s see how this baby drives.”  
“Do you even--”  
“Yes, I do, I’ve been around since before cars were invented, just calm down, okay?” I cut him off before he could finish, he was getting on my nerves anyway.  
I slowly pressed my foot on the gas pedal and turned onto the city street. We made it to the bridge at the edge of the city, then Tim began to talk. “Can I ask you something? How come I don’t remember you turning me? I only remember what happened before and after, but not during.”  
“No other vampire I’ve heard of or known has an ability through their venom--I’m the only one. I know vampires who have subjective precognition, telepathy, pathokinesis, enhanced speed, strength, agility, or beauty.”  
“How can someone have enhanced beauty?”  
“I have no idea. You know I have thermokinesis and enhanced speed and strength, but my venom contains memory manipulation. Once injected inside the body, it erases the target’s memory of me biting and turning them. So you remember me kissing your neck,”  
“Yeah.”  
“But you don’t remember the extreme pain of my bite. My venomous memory manipulation is why, and you didn’t wake during the transformation process because you lost so much blood because of me that you passed out.”  
“Okay, all of this ability stuff sounds completely unorthodox and supernatural.”  
“Timmy, you are supernatural. Jason, Dick, Damian, you, me, we all are supernatural and unorthodox in our own way. You have a brilliant and powerful mind, you need to look beyond the scientific explanations, you need to look beyond human understanding. You are not human anymore. Let go of whatever is humanly possible, and think about the mystic possibilities. What I’m telling you is not mythology, and if you still don’t believe me,”  
“Which I don’t.”  
“I’ll prove it after the hunt,” I parked the car at a cliff in the woods outside of Gotham City. We had a beautiful view of the city, the bridge, and the ocean right in front of our faces. I had us remove our contact lenses so the acid in our eyes didn’t burn them, and I had them safely put away under the armrest.  
The first thing I wanted to do was test Tim’s strength. I challenged him to a match in armwrestling, even though I knew it was a bad idea. Our elbows planted on the car hood and we clutched each other’s hands, then I had a feeling of self-doubt.  
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Tim asked.  
I glanced at his biceps. “No. Jason’s a better match than I am, but I’m eager to know what you can do.”  
“Good luck. You’ll need it.”  
“If you meet Emmett, you can try again against him.”  
“Who’s--? Never mind.”  
“Don’t hold back. This is important. You should know slamming my hand on the hood won’t hurt me at all,” I gave us a countdown, and by the time I got to one, I gave him every bit of strength I had. We locked eyes, and I was only able to last a couple seconds until he slammed my hand on the car hood and dented it.  
“Really? My car??”  
“”Don’t be such a baby,” I opened the hood and bent it back with my hands, then closed it. “See? Good as new. But I’ll just say, you dented the car.”  
“I’m acting like a baby?”  
“Yeah. You worry about the littlest things that can be fixed easily. Your car, your motorcycle, me,” I turned and began to walk.  
Tim clasped my wrist and pulled me back in. “You are not a little thing to worry about that can be fixed easily. You mean more than that car, you mean so much to me. Tell me,” Then he kissed me. “What does that mean to you?”  
“So much,” I kissed him back. “So, you wanna race?”  
His eyes squinted and his brows curled down a bit. “Quick change of subject.”  
“Do you? It’s the only way we can test your speed. It’s raining, so I doubt there’ll be any hikers.”  
“Lead the way.”  
I smiled, and felt ready to beat him. “One lap around the trail. If you see anyone, run out of sight until they’re gone. And try not to lisp on the mud.”  
We lined up on the wet dirt trail behind the car, I stared at the path ahead. “Ready for me to beat you?”  
“Hm?” Tim wasn’t paying much attention.  
“Bye,” I ran off at full speed.  
“Hey! No fair!” He ran after me as if he were chasing me down.  
I sprinted with a smile. I heard Tim catching up behind me, he was gaining. Already halfway through and I smelled the presence of a human. “Split up!” I ran into the forest, but Tim followed me as we dodged trees, stumps, logs, branches, and bushes. He’d been following my exact steps the whole race; I ran back on the trail and he still kept gaining on me after those obstacles. He finally caught up to me, but I picked up the speed to keep him behind me. I reached the finish, I immediately stopped and my feet dragged across the grit. Tim tried to slow down, but he went too far after he sped passed me; then jogged back. “I’m impressed! You almost beat me!” I gave him a high five.  
“If you didn’t run off without me, I would’ve been able to,” He took off his shoe and rocks dropped from the inside.  
“But that’s good. It means you’re really freakin’ fast. We were running at highway speed limit.”  
“Damn!” He put on the other shoe after emptying out the rocks and gravel.  
“I don’t know what else to do. You wanna take a walk? It’s possible for a vampire to not gain an extra ability, but with you, I seriously doubt that. But I don’t know how to find out what it is, maybe we can do that on the way.”  
We took a walk on the trail, then found a pair of broken sunglasses on the dirt. Tim crouched down and examined the glasses in his hand, suddenly he dropped them. I crouched next to him and placed my hand on his back. “Tim, you okay?”  
“I don’t know,” He paused, holding his head in one hand. “I think I had a vision. I think these glasses belonged to a criminal.”  
“Some kind of cognition?”  
“I’m not sure. But it was specifically about these glasses,” Tim took the glasses and shoved them in his pocket as he stood. “I’ll send them to Bruce later. I feel too unfocused to find out who they belong to.”  
“So… You feel fine?”  
“I don’t know. That was… strange.”  
“I’ll take that as a yes,” My throat felt a little dry like it was about to catch on fire, it bothered me. “I’m a little thirsty. Come on,” I walked into the forest as Tim followed me. The farther I went, the more I was able to pick up the scent of something. “Do you smell that?”  
“Yeah. What is it?”  
The scent was really close, I scanned around. “There,” I pointed at a white-tailed deer.  
“We’re eating a fawn?” Tim whispered.  
“We’re not eating it, just drinking its blood. We’ll leave the carcass for something that does eat deers,” I whispered back. “Stay here, and hidden. And don’t make a sound,” I quickly and quietly climbed a tree, and leaped from tree to tree to get close enough to my prey. I stalked on it and patiently waited for the right moment. Then I jumped the fawn, tackling it to the ground. It tried to struggle against me, but it was too late; I snapped its neck and it stopped squirming, then I turned my head to Tim.  
He stood from kneeling and approached me. “That was brutal. Is this what hunting’s normally like for you?”  
“Not always,” I answered. “Sometimes they end with a chase. But get used to it, ‘cause this is how you’re getting your food from now on, and you’re getting your turn on the kill.”  
“Greeaat. Definitely looking forward to that,” Tim said sarcastically.  
“Tim,” I approached him. “You are a vampire now. This is the only way to survive--Unless you want to drink human blood.”  
“Hell no!”  
“I know,” I sat on my knees next to the dead deer and sank my teeth in its neck for blood. I stood and backed away when I finished, then wiped my thumb across my mouth and sucked the blood from it. “Your turn.”  
Tim hesitated. He fit his teeth in my imprint and began to drink until he had enough, then pulled away and paused. I could tell he was in thought. “That… wasn’t as bad as I thought,” He said. “Normally, blood tastes like iron.”  
I wiped my thumb across the corners of his mouth, “It’s not like that when you’re a vampire,” then licked it off. “I don’t remember what blood tasted like when I was human.”  
“Iron, I just said that. But now, blood tastes like nothing.”  
“Animal blood does. But human blood… It's addicting like drugs. The taste of your blood… is indescribable. I became addicted at first taste, and almost drank it all, until--”  
“Until you stopped.”  
“Tim, I could’ve killed you these past four years by accident. You were as light as a feather and as fragile as a rose petal, and my teeth were like razor sharp knives to your skin. I could’ve accidentally crushed your skull when I held your face, or shattered your spine when I hugged you, or mangled your hand when I held it. So many ways to hurt you, so many times I probably have. I never wanted you to live like me--Trapped inside this body forever with death being the only exit. I thought I had my thirst under control until I turned you. But now I can’t hurt you anymore. Physically, I mean.”  
“Dani… Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“Because I was scared. I didn’t know what you would do, what you would think of me, if you would leave me because of it. I didn’t want our relationship to end because you’re dating a vampire.”  
He held me by the waist. “You’re not the first vampire I met. Human me dating a vampire is pretty concerning, but even then, I would’ve known you wouldn’t hurt me. I watched myself when I was around Jason to protect myself--I kept my distance and I was careful with my words. His eyes were always blood red or black, it struck fear in me every time I looked at them even though I knew he would protect me.”  
“Why?”  
“I never knew when he would attack, or if he would. Even though he has saved me before in the past. But you… You’re a lot more different than him. Even if I knew you were a vampire before you turned me, I still wouldn’t be frightened by you. You’re sweet, caring, funny, active, flexible, and you always tried your best to be gentle. But Jason’s rough, lazy, carefree, rude, and can be extremely aggressive. That’s what makes you better, that’s why I wouldn’t be afraid of you.”  
“Well… You wouldn’t like me for who I was in the past.”  
“Why? What’d you do?”  
“Later. I don’t want to think about it right now. It brings back bad memories,” I looked around my environment. “It’s getting dark, should we head back to the car?”  
“Are we leaving already?”  
“No, I just wanna hangout, you know,” Then I hadn’t noticed before until I glanced into his eyes; I began to stare.  
“Dani? Hello?” Tim snapped his fingers a couple times.  
The spell from his eyes was broken and I was sucked back into reality. “What?”  
“You blanked out for a second.”  
“Sorry, it’s just… Your eyes… They're beautiful. They’re gold like the sun, or a pharaoh’s treasures.”  
“Are you trying to flatter me?”  
“No, I was just telling you what your eyes look like.”  
“I think you’re trying to flatter me. …and it’s working,” He gave me a kiss.  
We heard shuffling in the distance. An irresistible scent swam in our noses. Tim’s expression curled downwards like he was filled with rage, he growled with every breath. He rushed for the source, but I luckily stopped him in time. “Tim, no!!”  
“Out of the way!” Tim barked and kept trying to push through me, my feet dragged across the dirt.  
“Timothy, snap out of it!” I glanced behind me, two men walked down the path. One was helping the other that held his leg and limped, bleeding at the knee. As fast as I could, I let go of Tim and tackled him, he couldn’t fight the powerful momentum of my speed. I pushed him through a tree and finally knocked him down. I landed on him, sitting on his stomach and pinned his wrists down with my knees. He struggled against me as I pressed his chest down and covered his mouth and nose to block the scent of blood. He struggled and growled at me as I tried my best to keep him restrained.  
This is exactly what he was afraid of--Becoming the mindless beast he never wanted to be. The beast I unintentionally forced him into becoming. I understood why he locked himself away to keep his inner beast contained, but I couldn’t let him dehydrate himself to death in fear of himself.  
The scent slowly faded away and Tim was still acting monstrous, but I had to keep him restrained until I knew the scent was gone and lost. Tim’s struggling slowly calmed down and his expression relaxed. I removed my hand from his face, he looked at me with a fearful face and huffed breathing.  
“Tim…?” I moved my knees off his wrists. I had to see if he would respond to his name this time.  
Tim leaned on his elbow and embraced my shoulders, burying his face in my neck and shoulder--His breath shook. “Yeah… I’m here… Thank you… Thank you so much… I couldn’t hold myself back… I almost thought I was gone…”  
I embraced his head and shoulders. “You scared me…”  
“I’m so sorry…”  
I took him back to the car and we sat on the hood and stared at the city stars, and the dancing ones above us.  
I sat on his lap and made out with him. I grazed my fingers on his neck where I bit him and stared at it. “Tim, I…”  
“Don’t worry about it,” He cupped my jaw.  
“But all I can do is feel awful and apologize a million times.”  
“I mean, you’re not wrong. But it’s over. What’s done is done. And there’s nothing we can do about it.”  
“I never wanted to hurt you, I never wanted this for you, I never wanted to ruin your life with this--Curse.”  
“You didn’t ruin my life, just took it to another course,” He paused. “What did I do when you bit me?”  
“Please don’t make me remember that.”  
“I have to know.”  
I sighed in discomfort. “It was painful for me to hear. You grunted and yelped in pain, but restrained yourself from screaming. Your hold on me was tighter and you scratched my back. But the more I drank, you got quieter and your grip loosened. When I forced myself to stop, you passed out from blood loss and fell on me. A day later, you woke up like nothing happened. You know the rest.”  
“If only I knew what it felt like.”  
“You’re lucky you don’t remember, it’s an extremely painful experience. A vampire’s bite is more painful than you can possibly imagine. For me, it was indescribable. It felt like I was being incinerated, burned to ashes.”  
“That’s horrible.”  
“It was… But being a vampire comes with its benefits. You never have to sleep, breathe, eat, blink, use the bathroom, work out, shave, clip your nails, see a doctor--And you can’t age, gain weight, lose weight, feel pain, go blind, go deaf, drown. All these things you never have to worry about again. But your hair will never get longer if you ever wanted it to, and don’t you dare cut it off!”  
Tim smirked. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning to.”  
I sat next to him and cuddled up against his torso, I rested my head on his shoulder and my hand on his chest. Tim wrapped his arm around me with his hand rubbing my arm and shoulder. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Don’t move, I’m pretending to sleep.”  
Tim chuckled. We sat and cuddled in the same position on the car hood all night. I felt rays of sunlight touch my skin, I opened my eyes. I stared out into the horizon then looked up at Tim. He turned his head to me with his beautiful golden eyes shining with the sun and smiled pleasantly, then kissed me. “Had a nice pretend beauty rest?”  
“I did,” I rested my head on his shoulder again. As the sun slowly rose, its beams crawled up our bodies. I looked at Tim again, he was glowing, sparkling like the brightest diamonds. I fell in love with his shimmering glamour, then my brain thought of something. I shot up and immediately began to unbutton his white shirt.  
“What are you doing?” Tim looked at me in suspicion.  
“I have to see this!” I opened his shirt as wide as I could and exposed him to the sun. His perfectly fit chest and abs glittered brightly, it took my breath away if I had one and melted my unbeating heart. “Gorgeous…”  
Tim looked down at himself and saw his skin sparkle and glitter. “That’s new.”  
I continued to stare. “I am literally speechless right now,” Then I bent down and kissed his chest, I began to nuzzle it.  
“You having fun there?”  
I continued blissfully. “Yeah…”  
“Well, I’d hate to break it to you, but you have to go to work soon.”  
I rested my chin on his chest and looked up at him. “You suck.”  
“Vampire joke?”  
“Pun not intended!”

I made sure I was out of sight from a camera’s view and borrowed a pint of blood from the hospital, then hid it in my purse; I knew it was illegal, but I had no choice. I was planning on returning it, but I needed it to train Tim in self-control for a while. I came home and dropped my bag on the kitchen counter.  
“Is that what I think it is?” Tim walked into the kitchen from the bedroom.  
“Yes, but you’re not getting any. I know it smells delicious, but it’s not for us to drink, it’s to help you.”  
Tim wrapped around me from behind and spoke softly in a charming tone. “You can help me by letting me have it.”  
“No! Stop trying to use your charm to get what you want ‘cause it’s not gonna happen!”  
“C’mon, pretty please?”  
“I said no!”  
“But it smells so good. Not even a little taste?” He had his lips to my neck, then pecked it.  
“Stop it!”  
“You’re breaking my heart here--I’m begging you. You know you can’t resist me.”  
“I’m trying so damn hard to!”  
Tim kept kissing my neck and shoulder with the tip of his tongue grazing my skin’s surface.  
“But it’s hard… to say… no…”  
“So that’s a yes?”  
“Hell no, you desperate bloodsucker!” I took the blood pouch from my purse. “You want this?”  
“Yes.”  
“Then do me a favor.”  
“Anything.”  
“Resist it.”  
“I can’t.”  
“Do you want to kill harmless, innocent humans? Do you want to end up like Jason?”  
“Screw that!”  
“Then it’s your turn to say no to this pint of blood. Learn your self-control.”  
“And what do you suppose I do? Look away?”  
“Yes! That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do! And you’re not getting this for a reward, otherwise I would be a bad trainer.”  
It took a while to train Tim to resist the sight and smell of human blood; I had to shove him back many times, but he made progress after a few weeks. He started to hesitate before looking away, he even used his phone or got romantic with me to distract himself. The farther in training we went, the easier it got for him. His hesitation faded away until he didn’t hesitate anymore and turned his back on the blood. After weeks of blood resistance training, Tim finally had acceptable self-control--And after that, I snuck the pint of blood back in the blood storage at the hospital; it was a delicate operation.


	3. 1864

Tim had been looking troubled whenever he was alone. I walked by him in the kitchen and he still had that expression. “Are you okay, Timmy? You look troubled.”  
“I’m starting to question my psychometric ability. Every time I touch you, I don’t receive any information about you.”  
“You already know everything about me,” I giggled.  
“Not everything. There is one thing that I’m missing… Your origin story.”  
“Well, you could’ve just asked. You don’t need your little power to tell you. I was originally born on September 2, 1841, in Brooklyn, New York. I was the oldest of two children. My mother died during childbirth when my little brother, Michael, was born.”  
“How old were you when Michael was born?”  
“Five. He was the most polite boy you’d ever meet, always said ma’am and sir, please and thank you. But when Michael was nine, he died of tuberculosis. We didn’t have the proper medicine during the Victorian era, so tuberculosis was a very common illness to die from.”  
“That’s so sad. What was the Victorian period like?”  
“It’s literally exactly what you think. And slaves were still around at the time, my family had one. Nivedita helped my mother through labor and childbirth and helped take care of my little brother and I. Even though she was a servant, Michael and I treated her like family. She was family.”  
“And your father?”  
“I don’t like talking about him. Let’s just say he wasn’t particularly a good person.”  
“How come?”  
“He was the one giving punishments. Whipping Nivedita to dehumanize her and keep her working, beating Mikey and I for bad behavior, and he abused my mother from time to time when he was in a bad mood. He was so sexist, he never really appreciated her. He just wanted a woman that he could boss around and make babies with while he took his sweet, precious free time doing whatever he wanted. Please… No more family questions…”  
“I’m sorry. My parents were pretty strict, too. I mean, my dad transferred me to an all boys school because girls kept trying to kiss me!” Tim paused for a moment, unsure what next to say. Then he remembered. “When did you become a vampire?”  
“In 1861, war broke out between the north and south.”  
“The Civil War.”  
“Yes, and I know you’re well aware. I studied for a medical career and I served under president Abraham Lincoln as a nurse during the war. I never met him in person, but I was on his side to fight against slavery. I was always stationed in the medical center near the battlefield. You have no idea the horrors I’ve seen. There were soldiers missing limbs, jaws, eyes, noses, ears. There were soldiers infected with disease and illnesses. Many men died because I wasn’t fast enough or didn’t have the cure. The only thing we knew how to do was amputate because we thought it was the solution to everything. In 1864, a year before the war and slavery was banned, one of the soldiers seemed strange, I realized he wasn’t American, either. He looked Brazilian, actually. I saw there was a bullet hole in the shirt of his blue uniform with blood surrounding it. His eyes were red and he had a creepy smile and attacked me. He never spoke, just drank my blood and left. After I was transformed into a newborn vampire, I had to seek revenge. I found the vampire that killed me, tore him apart and burned his remains. That’s how you kill a vampire. After that, I was thirsty for human blood. I feasted on the weak, dying men in the medical center--Drank every last drop of blood there was. Eventually, I caught myself and ran away across the states. In Washington, which wasn’t a state yet at the time, I found a vampire called Carlisle Cullen who taught himself over the past few centuries blood resistance and self control. Now, the sight or smell of blood doesn’t bother him at all. For more than a century, Carlisle helped me become a vegetarian and learn self control and blood resistance. I was so ambitious and eager to stop hurting humans. When I met you, I wanted your blood several times, you smelled more appetizing than any other, but you’re my boyfriend. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I did. And I did…”  
“Yeah, I don’t forgive you either.”  
“Ouch.”  
“I still hate it, but you make it better.”  
Flashbacks of the war came flushing in. I heard faint noises of men shouting, cannons firing, and guns popping. I saw soldiers being dragged in either mangled, missing a body part, shot, or showing symptoms of disease; I saw men die before my eyes. My eyebrows curled up and I had a panic attack. I sobbed and hid my face in my hands. “I couldn’t save them, Tim! I couldn’t save them!”  
Tim pulled me into a comforting hug and cradled my head in his shoulder. “Shhh… It’s going to be okay… I’m here, I’ve got you…”   
I grasped his shirt, trembling and continued to bawl my eyes out.  
By the next day, Dick called me to check on Tim and see if he was alright; said he was inactive for a while and hasn’t been answering calls or texts. That did sound unlike him--He always responded whenever he could.  
“Yeah, he’s okay,” I told Dick through the phone. “He just wanted time to himself and--”  
Tim took my phone, hung up, and set it down on the kitchen counter.  
“Hey!”  
“Don’t. Talk to him,” Tim seemed like in a bad mood.  
“You don’t even know who that was!”  
“I don’t need hearing aids to know that was Dick.”  
“Okay, so what if it was? He just wanted to know if you were alright.”  
“Well I’m not! Dick’s growing suspicious about me--We can’t have him know, we can’t have any of them know! It’s so obvious now! And it won’t take them long to find the truth! ‘Hm. Tim has been acting strange lately, and there’s no sign of Red Robin anywhere. I wonder what he’s been up to.’ Gee, I don’t know! Maybe because his girlfriend is a f*cking vampire!”  
Offended, I took my phone and stormed out, slamming the door. I rode my motorcycle to the cliffs outside the city and whimpered. I parked my bike at a grassy cliff in front of the city and Atlantic ocean and threw my helmet on the ground. I sat in front of the edge of the cliff curled up and stared out at the horizon, letting the tears slither down my face. Three hours passed by, and I didn’t move a single muscle, then my phone buzzed and rang. When I picked it up and glanced at it, a picture of Tim hugging me and grinning with his shiney blue eyes glowed trapped inside the screen with his name in white above our faces. I declined the call and set my phone down on the grass and continued to whimper as I stared at the horizon. More hours flew by, I heard a motorcycle pull up and shut off.  
“I thought I would find you here,” Tim said after setting his helmet on the seat of his bike. He approached me. “How are you feeling?”  
“Go away,” I turned my head away from him and rested my chin on my knees, burying the bottom half of my face in my arms.   
Tim wrapped his black leather jacket around my shoulders and sat next to me, he began to gaze at the already setted sun, watching the orange and pink colors in the sky fade away into purple and indigo. “I’m sorry I lashed out at you. I was anxious. Anxious that… If they find out the truth about me, I won’t be able to protect you. They’ll try to kill you and prevent me from stopping them. They’ll think you’re a threat to me. I don’t want them to hurt you. Hell, I don’t want them to touch you. I just want to be extra cautious about us--Our little secret.”  
I didn’t say anything.  
“Do you want to say something?”  
I stayed quiet and pulled his opened jacket closed.  
“I get it. You still want to be alone,” Tim got up on his knees and kissed my temple. “I love you,” then he stood and left to his bike.  
I let go of his jacket and chased after him, letting it slip off my shoulders and onto the ground. “Tim!”  
He turned to me and I tackled him to the ground, and kissed him a couple times; he planted his palm on my cheek and jaw on the second kiss.  
I whispered to him. “I love you, too…”  
Tim placed his other palm on the other side of my face and we nuzzled, touching foreheads.  
Our moment was ruined to the cocking of a gun. “Don’t. Move,” Growled a man’s voice.  
Tim and I looked up. A hunter pointed a rifle at my head. I glared at him and held my hands up and got off Tim.  
“Don’t try anything! This rifle’s full of silver ammo and I’m not afraid to shoot!”  
“What? Does he think we’re werewolves or something?” Tim asked quietly.  
“Tim, stay down,” I warned him. I turned to the hunter. “What do you want?”  
“Revenge,” The hunter replied. “You thought you could disguise yourself and hide away. Well guess what, Rogers? I found you!”  
“Rogers? You got the wrong girl,” Tim tried to tell him.  
“Shut up! I could never forget her face!”  
“What did I do?” I asked, playing along.  
“You don’t remember? You bit off my leg!”  
“Did I now?” I dropped my arms.  
“No sudden moves!”  
I grinned. “Rule number one: find ammo that’s actually effective against werewolves. Rule number two: make sure your victim is actually a werewolf. Rule number three: never ever pick a fight with a vampire,” I charged at him. He pulled the trigger and shot me, making Tim jump. The bullet bounced off me, and I clutched the barrel of his rifle and bent it upwards, then ripped it out from his hands. I broke the rifle in half like a twig and dropped the pieces on the ground. The hunter tried to run away, but I caught him by the back of his collar and dragged him near the edge of the cliff as he struggled.  
“Wait!” Tim stood and tried to stop me.  
I chucked the hunter across the ocean.  
“What are you doing?!”  
“Don’t worry,” I said, walking back to the bikes. “I hear jerks float.”  
“That’s not how it works--”  
“It’s just water, he’s fine.”  
“No, he’s not!”  
“Don’t make me throw you off the cliff, too!” I snapped at him. “Listen carefully, Timothy Jackson Drake. Nobody accuses me for something I didn’t do--Not once, not ever. Whoever accuses me will regret it. Now, if you’re as smart as you’re set out to be, you will never blame or accuse me of any crime I never committed or you will wish you never met me,” I threatened. I headed straight to the forest. Tim knows I’m dead serious when I use his full name.  
“Where do you think you’re going?”  
“For a snack.”  
“You don’t need any.”  
“I don’t care. If you want food, you’d better hurry and come with me, otherwise you’re not getting any.”  
“I’m coming,” Tim sighed.


	4. Aggressive Negotiations

Dick called Tim and I to the Batcave, said he had something important he wanted to speak to us about in person. Dick, Damian, and Jason knew I was a vampire ever since the beginning, and I knew what they were as well. I knew they could smell Tim was a vampire, so we politely declined. But Dick demanded our presence, it was an order. We had no choice but to go, and I was on edge. I didn’t make Tim put on his blue contacts, they knew. They knew and they wanted to confront us. I felt uneasy on the way to Wayne Manor; I was anxious and concerned. Then I spoke to Tim. “Tim… if something goes wrong, I just want you to know that I love you so much.”  
“Why are you talking like we’ll never see each other again?” Tim was getting on edge, too.  
“Because it might happen. Tim, Dick knows. We tried so hard to keep it from them and Dick knows. I feel like our lives are on the line once we step foot in that cave.”  
“We are walking in a different territory, but it doesn’t sound like Dick or Bruce to kill at all.”  
“We’re vampires, and vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies. We don’t get along with them.”  
“Damian and I don’t. We never got along from the beginning. But Dick? He’s like a big brother to me--And he is.”  
“I just have a bad feeling about this.”  
“I feel it too.”  
Tim stopped the car inside the Batcave. The car shut off and we got out, then we approached Dick and Damian, Jason stood on the side. They saw Tim’s golden eyes and Jason’s expression changed, giving more attention. Before we spoke, Damian changed into a black timber wolf and growled. Tim blocked me with his arm and kept me behind him. Damian charged at us and Dick let it happen. He leaped and his fangs clamped my shoulder, tugging me backward. Dick grabbed Tim and shoved him at Jason, Jason wrapped his arms around Tim tightly so he couldn’t escape; Tim tried to struggle free. Damian transformed back and roughly took my arm, then Dick took the other; they had me on my knees.  
“Dani!!” Tim called. “Let her go!”  
“She is dangerous, Tim!” Dick talked back. “She has to be dealt with before she hurts anyone else,” Then he and Damian started to pull on my arms out of their sockets.  
“No!!” Tim couldn’t bear watching his brothers kill me; he grabbed Jason and threw him over his shoulder. Jason’s body slammed against the metal floor with a loud bang. Tim rushed at Dick and body-slammed into him, launching him across the floor, then kicked Damian and made him fly backwards. He kneeled to me and rested his hand on my back.  
Dick transformed into a gray wolf, I stood to confront him but Tim held me back. “Don’t.”  
“I have to, Tim. He’s mad at me because of what I did to you. Only I can make this right.”  
Tim hesitated, then let me go. I slowly approached Dick with caution, he began to growl. “Dick,” I stopped. “Please, listen to me.”  
He barked.  
“I know you are upset and angry, I would be too if I found out my brother was turned into a vampire. But please just know I didn’t want him for his blood. I gave him every spark of love that I have and I did my best to keep him safe from my fangs. I love Tim so much and I know you do too. I never wanted him to bear this burden either, truly, but I lost my control due to my demons.”  
Dick moved his paws ready to charge.  
“Deep down, I don’t forgive myself for turning him, and it’s okay for you to not forgive me. Tim honestly is the best boyfriend I’ve ever had, though I hadn’t loved in almost two hundred years--But I will protect him with everything I have until the end,” I began to move closer, Dick growled quietly. “I would never hurt him, never. I hope you know that,” I held my hand out to him. “I know I’m a killer, but I am so sorry Dick. I’m truly… deeply… sorry,” My hand lightly slid down Dick’s wolf head. I began to pet him, I had no problem with werewolves and dogs anyway, weirdly enough. Dick’s tenseness slowly faded away; he was relaxing. He listened to me with his heart, and petting him made me feel better. Damian transformed again and charged at me, but Dick took the hit for me.   
Tim forcefully pulled me away and held me tight against his chest, “What are you doing?” I questioned him.  
“Let them be,” Tim said calmly.  
“But--!”  
“It’s normal. Damian’s trying to become alpha… Again. He does it a lot.”  
Tim and I watched the wolves fight. Shortly after, Bruce shoved Damian away and forced them to stop, making it end with a draw. Dick and Damian transformed back into their original human form, then Bruce’s eyes shifted to me, I felt fear strike my soul. He grabbed my shoulders and rammed me against the cave wall and pressurized my throat with his forearm, jamming my jaw at the same time to keep me from biting him, which I would never do. I let him hold me against the wall, I didn’t resist when I knew it was easy.  
“Bruce, stop!” Tim commanded.  
“She turned you into a vampire, Tim! How could we trust her?”  
“I know, and I don’t forgive her either. But she never intended or wanted to hurt me.”  
“How do you know that?”  
“Because that’s what she told Dick five minutes ago. Dani is harmless to the family, she wouldn’t hurt any of us and I’m not making this up. She never wanted me to turn out this way, but I did. Yes, it is her fault and her fangs aren’t to be trusted--”  
“You’re not making this easier, Tim!” I tried to say.  
“Quiet,” Bruce barked.  
“Bruce, I love her,” Tim continued. “I love her for who she is, not what she is, and you can’t change that. So what if I’m a vampire? I hate it, but that doesn’t change me for who I am. I mean, yes, I have to kill to survive, but Dani taught me there’s another way than humans so I don’t have to hurt them, or you. No matter how tempting it is,” His eyes drifted to Bruce’s neck.  
“Tim, no, stay focused,” I snapped.  
“Right, thanks. Dani fought so hard against her instincts and trained herself for decades to learn self-control, to not hurt humans and see them as a source of food. That’s why she was able to resist biting me until she got too close. Please, Bruce. She doesn’t deserve this. Let her go,” Tim placed his hand on Bruce’s shoulder, his expression relaxed and he stared blankly into nothingness. He let go and backed away, staring at Bruce frighted. Tim collapsed onto his knees and held his head, breath stuttery and heavy.  
“Tim!” I shouted. “Bruce, please let go! He needs help!”  
“No,” Bruce spoke strictly.  
“Tim needs my help! I know what’s wrong with him!”  
Bruce kept me on the wall, “Fine. Don’t screw it up or you’re done,” then he moved his arm from my throat.  
“Thanks,” Then I rushed for Tim and dropped on my knees. “Timothy?” I gently moved his hands from his head and hugged him. Tim slowly wrapped his arms around my back and pressed his cheek against my head. Then I moved my hands and cupped both sides of his jaw. Bruce, Dick, Jason, and Damian watched as I touched my forehead to Tim’s, he clasped my arms, but didn’t move them. We took a moment and kept our eyes closed, Tim’s breathing was destressed. He let go of me and stood, ready to get back in the moment. I stood with him, “What did you see?” I asked.  
“I just learned something about Bruce that none of us could ever guess,” Tim began. “We all know he keeps secrets from us, but Bruce used to be a supernatural hunter. That’s why he was able to keep Jason and Damian in check.”  
“Now hold on, Tim. I got him out of it,” Jason spoke.  
“But the fact that he used to kill doesn’t sound like the Bruce we know at all. You killed every human criminal you fought because you needed their blood to live, and if you turned them into a vampire, you’d make sure they were dead. But Bruce limited you. Batman was my idol growing up. I followed the adventures of Batman and Robin when I was six, they were my heroes. But this? I feel completely betrayed, untrusted, unsafe, and deceived. Batman is not what I thought he was at all. Jason used to hunt supernaturals too when he was human before he turned. After turning into a vampire, he only hunted vampires that harmed humanity, and he still does.”  
“How do you know that?” Jason questioned.  
“When I threw you. I support protecting the innocents of humanity, but--I am disappointed!” Tim stormed off in a calm manner, however that worked.  
“Tim?” I called.  
“Where are you going?” Bruce demanded to know.  
“On patrol,” Tim replied. “I need to sort this out alone.”  
“I don’t think that’s--”  
“He’ll be fine,” I stopped Bruce. “He has acceptable self-control.”  
The boys and I didn’t bother to follow Tim. I found him on the roof of Wayne Manor a couple hours later sitting in his Red Robin suit without a mask or cowl covering his face and staring out into the sunset. He was sparkling like diamonds.  
“I thought you went on patrol,” I began.  
“I did,” Tim didn’t bother to look at me as he sulked. “Everything looks good so far. What are you doing here?”  
“I came to check on you. I’m worried.”  
“Don’t be, I’m fine.”  
“I know you’re upset. It’s okay. Batman was your childhood hero,” I sat closely next to him.  
“I know. I don’t want to talk about it.”  
“You don’t have to,” I paused for a moment, then I sang softly. “Where the northwind meets the sea, there’s a river full of memory.”  
Tim sang with me, “Sleep my darling, safe and sound. For in this river all is found,” we sang the rest of the Disney lullaby. I placed the pads of my fingers on his jaw and drew his gaze to me, I gave him a warm expression. He leaned toward me, then I leaned in until my lips met his, and we slowly kissed.  
“Aww…”  
We stopped and turned to the direction of the noise, Dick stood at the entrance to the manor.  
“What are you doing here, Dick?” Tim sounded distrusting.  
“I just came to see how you’re doing,” Dick answered.  
“Thanks, but no thanks. Dani’s already got that covered.”  
“Tim, look. I know you’re mad.”  
“You think? You tried to kill my girlfriend!”  
“I know, and I’m really sorry--”  
“Suure.”  
“Tim, let him speak,” I interrupted.  
“How could I?” Tim spoke softly. “He made sure I couldn’t interfere when they were about to kill you.”  
“It’s alright,” Said Dick. “I deserve it.”  
“I’m still not buying it, did Bruce send you to spy on me? Or her?”  
“No, of course not! I came to confront you to apologize and admit my actions were wrong.”  
“Yeah?” Tim stood. “Why didn’t you kill Jason? He’s more dangerous to Gotham City and its people than Dani has ever been--”  
“Jason’s Bruce’s problem, not mine, and you know that,” Dick’s voice boomed. “Look, I didn’t come here for a fight.”  
“Well, that’s a risk you were willing to take, now is it?” Tim drew closer to Dick.  
“Timothy Jackson Drake, stand down!!” I felt my voice rumble, and I stood. “Same goes to you, Richard John Grayson! You boys are letting your emotion cloud your judgement! You are protectors of peace and justice, so start acting like one! You,” I turned to Dick. “You are supposed to be the alpha, the leader of the pack. Don’t let your pride turn to selfishness. Don’t let your emotions control you. You,” I turned to Tim, “I love you, but you are getting overprotective. You know I can hold my own, even against you,” then I sighed. “We’re talking about this later.”  
Dick and Tim stared at each other, speechless; they were quiet for a moment.  
“Wow,” Tim was surprised.  
“That’s new. Where did you say she was from again?” Dick asked.  
“Brooklyn, New York. She had something to do with the Civil War in the 1860’s,” Then Tim’s chest tightened as realized the mistake he just made.  
“You got a problem with that, Master Acrobat?” I felt feisty.  
“What--no, not at all.” Dick replied, almost frightened.  
Traumatizing memories occured in my head, I was frozen and my head blocked out all noises from the real world.  
“She’s having a flashback,” Tim stood in front of me and clutched my shoulders. “Snap out of it!”  
“Is she alright?” Dick was getting concerned.  
“She won’t be soon. I’ve only seen this once before. Her memories of the war scarred her for life. As long as the civil war isn’t mentioned, she won’t think about it and she’ll be fine. Come on…”  
My terrifying flashback finished, I immediately hugged and buried my face in Tim’s shoulder as my eyes shed tears. “So many deaths… I couldn’t save them in time… too late… I was-I was,” I whimpered.  
Tim hushed calmly. “It’s okay. The war is over, you’re safe. You did the best you could.”  
“What is she muttering about? What did she do?” Dick’s concern rose.  
“Quiet!” Tim hissed. “If we were in a bedroom, this would be easier,” He muttered.  
“What?”  
“Cuddling calms her down faster.”  
“Oh, I thought you meant something else.”  
“Just stop talking, okay?” Tim began to think. “Maybe your comfort can help calm her down.”  
Dick was confused. A werewolf comforting a vampire didn’t sound normal at all to him. “Alright,” Dick pressed his torso against my back and wrapped around Tim and I.   
It took time, but my sobbing slowly faded, I rested my chin on Tim’s shoulder and nudged my head to his with tears dropping from my lashes and down my face and neck. “Thanks, guys,” I said quietly.  
“You’re welcome,” Dick let go of us.  
“I love you, Tim,” I kissed his cheek.  
“I love you, too,” Tim replied.  
“So what are you going to do about Bruce?”  
Tim wasn’t sure how to answer my question.  
“I’m going to leave you two alone,” Dick backed away, “Just know, Tim, I was wrong to judge Dani and I regret my actions,” then he left.  
“You did say you felt unsafe around him,” I continued, gazing at his rosey-pale face.  
“I don’t want to talk about that right now,” Tim brushed my hair away from my face then placed his hand on my neck with his thumb on my jawline. “I want to stay right here with you, dove,” Then he kissed the corner of my mouth.  
“Dove?”  
Tim’s eyes shot open. “I did not mean to say that, I meant ‘love.’”  
I smirked. “I like it. You should keep calling me that,” I hugged him again.  
“As you wish.”  
I sighed in bliss. “My Wesley…”  
We chilled on the roof of Wayne Manor for a while. Then Tim’s words about Bruce got stuck in my head, I began to explore ideas to help him. Then it came to me. “What if we left?”  
“Left? You mean we run away?” Tim looked at me.  
I nodded.  
He smirked. “We’re full-grown, independent adults, there’s no such thing.”  
“But what if we did?”  
“It would be nice to not be around him for a while. Where do you propose we go? Metropolis? Blüdhaven?”  
“I know a place we can go, if you’re willing to go that far.”  
“Anywhere is better than here.”  
“Great, so you don’t mind a forty-seven hour drive to Washington?”  
“You’re implying we drive to Washington state and stay there?”  
“Yes.”  
“There are a lot of cons in that statement. Where do you suppose we stay? A hotel?”  
“Better. I know a household of vampires that can help us.”  
“Vampires are territorial, how do you know they won’t attack us?”  
“Because I’ve lived with them once upon a time. They’re friendly vampires. I’m sure they can let their old friend and her boyfriend stick around.”  
“Okay, and who are these vampires? Educate me.”  
“They call themselves the Cullens. First, there’s Carlisle Cullen--He was the first I met and the oldest-- He’s a doctor and helped me learn self-control. Then there’s Esme, Carlisle’s wife--She’s really sweet, very kind-hearted and welcoming--She would have no problem with you. Edward is more terrifying--He’s a telepath, so he’ll read your thoughts no matter what--He acts like he has no personality, that’s what makes him terrifying. Rosalie is hard on trust, but once you earn it, she’s your friend. Emmett is Rose’s fiancé, and similar to Jason--He’s pretty reckless and athletic, but he’s fun. Alice is the best--She’s easy to make friends with, though people like Edward find her strange because she’s able to have visions about a current event or events in the near future. And lastly Jasper, he’s Alice’s boyfriend--He can feel your emotional pain, it’s weird--He also was an officer in the Confederacy in… you know what, so I guess you could say we butt heads in the thing.”  
“A household of seven vampires? Are you sure?”  
“Trust me,” I held his hand. “You’ll fit in perfectly.”  
“I do trust you,” Tim whispered as he leaned closer.  
“Then you know it’s a good idea,” I kissed him, then kissed him one more time. I smiled. “You’re so cute.”  
Tim leaned back and snickered.   
I looked up at the dancing stars above us. “The stars are beautiful tonight.”  
“Yeah. Too bad we can’t see them all thanks to light pollution.”  
“I know. They were gorgeous when I was younger, then they started building cities and factories and creating electric lights and kept them on all night, then the stars started to fade away and disappear.”  
“Out of all the stars I see in the sky, the brightest one is you.”  
“Are you flirting with me?”  
“I just spoke what I was thinking at the same time.”  
“Aww! You’re so cute!”  
“That’s the second time you said that already.”  
“Well it’s true!”  
“So are we gonna do it or what?”  
“You’re in?”  
“Yeah, I’m not letting you leave me here with Bruce!”  
“You were so unclear and questioning earlier. We should at least keep in touch with one person here, someone we can trust. Honestly, I think Dick’s the best choice. I know Bruce trusts him more than anyone to keep a secret from us for him and he can definitely keep a secret from him for us.”  
I called Carlisle about the situation Tim and I had, said we had no place safe to go. He said he’ll let us stay and he would inform the others, I ended it saying we would be there in two to three days. Tim and I were able to speak to Dick privately about our plan, then I let him borrow my apartment key in case he needed something while we were gone. We weren’t planning on returning anytime soon, so I quit my job at the hospital and applied for a job at the hospital Carlisle worked at. We bought two pull-behind motorcycle trailers, one for each of us. Back at the apartment, we raided the closet after changing into our biker clothes, packed as much clothes as we could in our separate large suitcases along with our personal hygiene products we needed and contacts. I told Tim not to pack his Red Robin suit, but he ignored me. He removed the trackers from our motorcycles, electronics, and his Red Robin suit, he checked our helmets just in case but didn’t find any, we didn’t want to be tracked by Batman or anyone else that would try to find us. He also attached the trailers to our motorcycles and made sure they were well-secured, then packed everything we wanted in them, it was like Tetris. I almost packed my med-kit, but Carlisle has one so I didn’t need it. Instead, I left it out for Dick and Alfred if they ever needed it for an emergency; I had it labeled with a sticky note. We put together everything we could think of, I even put together a playlist to listen to for on the road. We got our fresh blood so we didn’t have to hunt on the road or once we arrived. Before we mounted our bikes at sunrise, I kissed Tim.  
Tim smiled. “What was that for?”  
“We’re gonna be stuck on the road for two days straight,” I said. “I wanted to get my chance to kiss you before it was too late,” I texted Dick and Carlisle separately that we were leaving to give them a heads up.  
“We’ll need to stop for gas every once in a while, it’s not like it’s the end of the world.”  
“I know. Better to kiss you now than later, right? Hey, how are you on your food consumption?” I was careful with my words in case a human heard us.  
“I think I can last two days. What about you?”  
“I’ve lasted longer than that, I’ll be fine,” I mounted my black Harley-Davidson Valhalla V-Rod striped with white and gold, and slipped my American flag designed, bluetooth helmet on. Tim added a feature to my phone so I could have both motorcycles connected to my bluetooth, and it worked wonders; I tested it and both speakers played the song from my phone. Tim put on his plain gunmetal grey helmet and mounted his candy apple red 2017 Harley-Davidson Softail, then pulled down his modular visor. My phone’s BlueTooth connected both bikes and the speakers played Same Old Song and Dance by Aerosmith, then put my phone away in my pocket. I gave him a thumbs up, telling him I was ready; he nodded and slowly accelerated, and I followed behind him. Tim somehow found time to study the map while we were packing and getting things ready, so he knew where he was going. We pretty much played Follow the Leader the whole roadtrip.  
Out of New Jersey, we entered Pennsylvania, which felt like forever; we passed by Philadelphia and Pittsberg. From Pennsylvania, we entered Ohio, then Indiana--We drove right next to Michigan--Then we drove through Chicago in Illinois, then Wisconsin, then Minnesota, then North Dekoda, then Montana, then Idaho, and finally Washington. We completely avoided Seattle, and Tim didn’t want to park our bikes on the ferry across the body of water known as Carr Inlet, so we drove around it all. We rode by Ruby Beach, it was nice to see the Pacific Ocean. It rained so much near Bogachiel River, it forced us to pull over and wait for the rain to calm down to a drizzle; it felt nice to get off the motorcycle and stretch our legs. As we waited patiently, Tim studied the map one more time so we wouldn’t have trouble finding the Cullens’ address and I told them we would be there soon. Once the rain was at a drizzle, we immediately mounted our bikes and rode to the Cullens’ house next to Forks. It was four in the morning when we pulled up on their driveway and shut off our motorcycles and I turned off the music. I texted Alice and Dick separately that we arrived. The garage opened for us and we walked our bikes inside, I could tell Tim felt strange about it all.


	5. Newborn

“Dani!” Alice ran into the garage and hugged me. She looked at Tim and gave him a friendly smile; she let me go, “Hi, I’m Alice,” and held out her hand.  
Tim took it, “Tim Drake,” shaking her hand, and at the same time, learning her past.  
Carlisle and the others flocked in behind Alice; I received a hug from Rosalie and Esme, Rose already shot her untrusting expression at Tim.  
“Guys, this is my boyfriend, Tim,” I spoke; I tried my best to keep my excitement inside, I hadn’t seen the Cullens in about seventy years. I noticed two people I didn’t recognize though.  
“Welcome,” Carlisle greeted. “We’ve heard so much about you.”  
“Thank you,” Tim replied. “She tends to do that a lot,” He whispered to me. “I thought you said there were seven of them, not nine.”  
“Two of them are new, I’ve never met them before,” I whispered back.  
“Danielle,” Edward began. “This is my wife Bella and our daughter Renesmee. Bella, Danielle.”  
“Hi,” Said Bella. I replied kindly.  
“Let’s talk upstairs,” Carlisle broke the tension. “We have much to discuss,” Tim and I followed the Cullens out of the garage and into the kitchen. “I can tell from Tim’s eyes that he’s still a newborn. When was he turned?”  
“A month ago,” Tim answered before I did, “You can blame her,” he pointed at me.  
“I thought my resistance was under full control! But that thirst should be gone.”  
“Has he ever had human blood?” Carlisle continued to ask.  
“No, but he almost got it enough times. Tim is extremely determined to not hurt or kill any humans, it’s strongly against his morals. It’s the opposite of what he did when he was human, he still does it.”  
“What does he do?”  
“He’s a vigilante. He works on his gadgets and vehicles all the time, it’s a hobby.”  
Tim elbowed me, I was knocked off my feet, then he folded his arms and his expression scolded.  
“Really?” I got back up. “They were going to find out sooner or later.”  
“I’m afraid you can’t do that anymore,” Carlisle spoke calmly.  
“What?” Tim’s tone was strict, he was getting uneasy.  
“You don’t have full control over your abilities. Your thirst could kill someone. We can’t trust you yet.”  
“I was trained to do things the police can’t. To catch criminals and villains and throw their sorry asses in jail.”  
“My dad can take care of it, he’s the chief,” Said Bella.  
“It’s a small town, Tim,” I rubbed my hand across his arm and shoulder. “It’ll be alright--It’s for the best. We don’t want you hurting someone by accident or lose your self-control.”  
“Fine,” Tim hissed irritatedly. “You know better than I do in my current situation. Like Dani said, I don’t want to hurt anybody by accident or lose my self-control.”  
“That’s good to hear,” Carlisle gave us a patient smile.  
We spoke a couple hours about what Tim can do, how I’d been training him, and why we left Gotham City. Tim told me he would be back and kissed my cheek, he returned to the kitchen with all the stuff we packed in the trailers, which reminded me they hadn’t shown us to our room. Esme escorted us to a cute little room on the top floor, then she left to give us privacy.  
I looked around. “Aww, no bed!?” I whined.  
“We don’t need one anyway,” Tim said, putting the suitcases and stuff down. “What would you expect from a household of sleepless vampires? We’ll do just fine without it.”  
I turned to him and noticed he was carrying a soft guitar case. “You brought your guitar? Which one is it?”  
“The sunburst one.”  
“I love that one! Don’t break it, ‘cause I’m not buying you a new one.”  
“I’ll try. Strength is hard to control.”  
After we got settled in, the Cullens took us out for combat training in the woods; they decided Alice would be Tim’s opponent.   
“Careful, she’s agile,” I stood closely behind Tim and quietly warned him.  
“Don’t worry, I think I can handle--”  
“No, like, Catwoman agile.”  
“Oh,” Tim paused. He took a few steps forward, popping his neck, rolling his shoulders back, and cracking his knuckles, then shook it all off. “Okay, let’s do this. I’ve dealt with criminals with your type of skills before,” He stood in a ready position.  
“Then this should be easy for you,” Alice replied.  
“We’ll see.”  
Tim charged at Alice and threw the first blow. With her speed, Alice bent backward and dodged Tim’s attack, then threw a counterattack. Tim blocked it, and pulled a roundhouse, but Alice blurred out of sight and pushed him from behind. Tim launched forward, his shoulder rolled once it hit the ground, and his back dragged across the dirt.   
“Always keep your eyes on the enemy,” Said Jasper with a piece of advice, but Tim already knew that.  
I stood above Tim’s head, bent over and looked into his upside down golden eyes. His shirt was up from the dragging, revealing his bellybutton. “How ya doin’?”  
“You never told me she’s fast in combat,” Tim folded his arms, still on the ground.  
“Oh well. Get up,” I straightened my back, then Tim was suddenly standing in front of me. I ruffled his raven hair from the dirt and dead leaves, his bangs fell in front of his face and covered his eyes.  
“Now look what you’ve done,” He said dramatically.  
“Whatever,” I combed his bangs away from his face with my fingers, then they fell back to their original place. “That’s better,” I smooched his nose.  
Tim and I rode our motorcycles to Seattle on a wet and clouded day for our alone time.  
Walking down the sidewalk, Tim heard distant struggling. He sprinted to the noise, leaving me behind; I ran after him at a humanly speed. Tim found a thug assaulting a young woman in a dim alley. He grabbed the thug by the shirt and slammed him against a brick wall, making it crack--He stared at him menacingly, his golden eyes burned with fire. The thug tried to push Tim off him, but he didn’t budge, not even a single millimeter. He tried punching him, but ended up hurting his own hand. Tim tilted his head to inflict more fear.  
“What are you?” The thug shook in fear.  
“Run,” Tim growled. “Run far and never stop before I hunt you down and feed you to the wolves. I’ll give you a headstart. Better hurry, clock’s ticking,” Then Tim shoved him away out the alley.  
I saw the thug lose his balance, then catch it and run the fastest his feet could carry him. I approached where he came from. Tim turned to the young woman, she stared at him frozen and scared.  
“That threat works every time,” Said Tim. “Are you okay?”  
“Yes,” The young woman’s voice shook. “Thank you.”  
Tim eyed her blooded hand, smelling the scent and trying to keep himself together.  
“Oh. It’s just a wound. Is it bad? I can’t tell,” She showed him her palm almost drowning in blood.  
Tim stood still, still eyeing it. In concern for her health, Tim held the back of her hand in his cold palm. Her fingers curled in reaction to his temperature. “It’s okay,” Tim spoke softly. “I’ve been on a motorcycle without gloves for a couple hours,” He partially lied. He took a closer look at her hand. The scent of her blood was swimming in his nose. Tim looked troubled to her, he was conflicted and at war with himself--Tim lost the battle, biting her wrist and drinking her blood. The girl yelled and shouted from the extreme pain of hellfire.  
“Tim, no!” I darted at him, clutching the collar of his black leather jacket and white button down shirt and yanking him away. He stumbled behind me and wiped his mouth. I took the girl’s wrist and covered her mouth to not draw attention, and fit my teeth in Tim’s bite mark. I tried my best to suck out all of his venom, but I was too late; his venom traveled too far in her arm for me to consume. I accepted her fate Tim sealed on her and pulled away. I removed my hand and her noises were quieter. I whipped around and my hand cracked loudly across Tim’s face. “Bad boyfriend! You know the rules! Humans are not part of the diet--”  
Tim clapped his hand on my mouth, still facing aside from my slap. “Watch your mouth,” His head rolled to me. “Someone could be listening.”  
I removed his hand. “What I was trying to say is, you know better! People are friends, not food! Good thing you’re a v--”  
He clapped my mouth again. “Keep your flapping. Loud mouth. Shut. Nobody’s allowed to know our secret and we want to keep it that way. Got it?”  
I moved his hand away. He looked at me, his expression said ‘choose your next words carefully’. “Fine,” I hissed. “Like I was trying to say again, good thing you’re like this, otherwise I wouldn’t have slapped you dead across the face.”  
“That’s better. Maybe next time you’ll get a reward,” He said sarcastically.  
“I hate you.”  
“That’s a false statement.”  
I noticed the girl was silent. I turned to her, she wasn’t in pain anymore, Tim’s bite and her palm were healed. “How are you feeling?” I asked her, concerned.  
“Weird,” She replied. Her eyes drew to Tim and were caught by his presence. She stepped back, still afraid of him.  
“It’s okay,” I held her arms. “He won’t hurt you anymore.”  
“Why are his eyes red? They were hazel before!”  
“There’s a lot to explain. What’s your name?”  
“Victoria Sharp.”  
“Well, Victoria,” I pulled out my small hand mirror and opened it, showing it to her.  
Victoria stared at her pale skin and scarlet eyes. She was fearful of herself and what she had become.  
“Your eyes are red. Just like his,” I continued. I snapped my hand mirror shut and shoved it in my pocket. I took the black sunglasses from my head and handed them to her. “Put them on. Your eyes will scare people,” She took my sunglasses and wore them on her face. I ruffled Tim’s hair until his bangs fell and completely covered his crimson eyes. “Don’t you dare pull them back until we get to the bikes.”  
“Bikes?”  
“It was about a two hour drive here. I need you to come with us so we can help you before something else bad happens.”  
“I’m not going anywhere with him!”  
“I promise you, Tim’s not bad at all. He’s new to this too and he’s still learning.”  
“What happens if I don’t follow you?”  
“Then you could seriously hurt a lot of people. You would go on a killing spree to quench your bloodthirst, and it’ll never be enough. Trust me, I’ve been down that path… I know what it’s like. But if we get you trained before any of that happens, you wouldn’t have to hurt anyone. Does that sound like a fair deal to you?”  
Victoria nodded. Tim and I took her with us to our motorcycles a few blocks down. We mounted our bikes and Victoria sat behind me, I traded her my helmet for the glasses for the ride. Tim pulled his bangs back and put on his helmet, revealing his red eyes for a second, then pulled down the visor. The motor engines roared and Victoria held on to me when we took off on the city road in the rain.   
Tim and I pulled up on the Cullens’ driveway and dismounted our bikes.  
“Alice,” I called. “We have a problem!”  
Alice and Jasper dropped from the trees. “What is it?” Alice asked as they approached us.  
Tim lifted his visor and removed his helmet and set it down on his seat, Victoria took off her helmet and handed it to me. They saw their red eyes.  
“What happened?” Asked Jasper.  
“What does it look like? Tim turned her,” I answered. “I know it was an accident--She was already bleeding before he bit her, and I was already too late when I tried to stop his venom from spreading. I wasn’t there before it happened,” I felt ashamed and responsible when I knew I shouldn’t.  
“So who is this?” Asked Alice.  
“Alice, this is Victoria Sharp. Can you and Jasper help her understand herself? I still need to punish Tim for his… misbehavior.”  
“You slapped me earlier,” Tim objected.  
“Well you deserve more.”  
“Don’t go too hard on him,” Alice told me.  
“I won’t. He’s still a newborn, I know.”  
Then Jasper and Alice took Victoria away with them. I stood closer to Tim.  
“So,” Tim began. “What’s my punishment now?”  
“I have something in mind,” I rested my arms on his shoulders, and he naturally planted his hands on my hips. I stared into his eyes. “Your eyes are… hypnotizing… They’re red like crimson roses…”  
“They shouldn’t be red…”  
“I really like them, shut up,” I pressed my lips to his. As they dug deeper, he pulled me closer and cupped my jaw, and I cradled his head with my fingers creviced in his raven hair. After we slowly pulled away, I began to play with his bangs, running my fingers through them, pulling them back, letting them fall in his face, sometimes they covered his eyes.  
“What are you doing?” He asked me.  
“I don’t know,” I kept playing with them. “But this is actually kinda fun. I might do this more often, maybe when I’m bored. You have the perfect bangs for it.”  
He grinned. “You’re adorable.”  
Then I stopped. “Hey, you wanna race in the woods?”  
“I’ll give you a headstart.”  
“Your mistake,” I dashed out of his arms and darted into the shadow-lingering forest behind him. Tim smirked, and bolted after me.  
Dodging trees, I glanced at Tim running next to me a few feet away; I couldn’t help but smile. A rock jumped in my path and tripped me. Before I could recover, Tim swooped in and scooped me up into arms. He embraced me tightly and held my head as his shoulder jammed on the ground and he scraped across the dirt. His body came to a halt and we were frozen for a moment, then his tense arms relaxed. I planted my hands on the ground next to his head and lifted myself above him, then I looked at him. He lied there eyes closed and motionless.  
“I wasn’t expecting that to happen,” I began. “Who do you think won?”  
There was no response.  
“Tim?”  
“I’m dead,” He remained still.  
“Come on, get up.”  
“No, I’m dead.”  
I rolled my eyes. “If you were dead, I would be very heartbroken and never love again. Now get up,” I pecked his lips. “Please?”  
Tim smirked and peaked an eye open. I stood next to him and he met my height, just a little taller. I went behind him and shuffled his hair and wiped down his shirt and pants from all the dirt, then gave him a nice little smack on the ass.  
He whipped around. “Don’t do that!”  
I grinned. “You’re so cute. You’re too adorable not to--I just couldn’t resist. And there’s no guarantee it won’t happen again, so get used to it.”  
“Why do I love you?”  
“Hey! Don’t question it!” Then my eyes drew to the tree next us and scrolled up. “Race you to the top of that tree?”  
Tim stared up the tree and searched for its end. “Where’s the top exactly?”  
“Wherever the branches get too thin and weak to hold us both.”  
His head dropped to me. “You’re on.”  
I looked at him and smiled. We climbed the tree as fast as we could, but I was falling behind, Tim was already standing on top. He reached a hand out to me, I leapt and clutched his wrist and he pulled me up on the branch without even trying.  
“Curse your agility,” I said, leaning against him as his shoulder leaned on the trunk.  
He chuckled and held my waist, then stared out at the top of the forest and river. “It’s beautiful up here.”  
“It is,” I planted a hand on his chest and rested my head on his neck and cheek. “But it’s beauty could never compare to you.”  
Tim kissed my head, and we continued to admire and enjoy the view.   
We didn’t notice how much time sped by, the skies were already fading to warm colors. I moved my hand up his chest to his jawline and kissed his jaw, then slid down to his neck where I bit him. My good mood was drowned and ached with melancholy. He gently guided my hand away and pecked my palm, then his arm relaxed and held it in his hand.  
“I’m so sorry,” I murmured.  
“Stop apologizing,” Tim demanded calmly. “I’m used to it. I still don’t forgive you for it, but I still love you just the same. You taught me that being a vampire isn’t all bad, racing you is actually pretty fun--It just comes with undesirable perks. It does feel like a curse, being forced to kill to survive, holding myself back from drinking someone else’s blood no matter how quenching they smell, never aging, somewhat immortality--I never thought a person could become superhuman naturally. Bane always uses venom to buff himself up, but what I have is natural. I don’t need some venom for strength, I just need me,” He paused and turned his head to me. “And my girlfriend.”  
I looked up at him, he was completely relaxed. I moved my hand from his and my fingers curled on his chest, then we kissed. I closed my eyes and cuddled my face in his cheek. “I love you…”  
“I love you, too…”  
We were quiet for a moment.  
“So when does my punishment actually start?” Tim broke the silence.  
I was lost in his arms. “Hm?”  
“The punishment?”  
“Oh. No, this is it.”  
“What?”  
“I lied to Alice so I could have fun with you. You’re a newborn, so it’s completely understandable why you couldn’t hold yourself together. But… you’ve been a bad boy.”  
Tim turned and his back leaned on the trunk.  
“And as your lover,” I continued. “You will be treated as such,” I drew closer to him. Tim lifted his chin as I closed in on his neck, the same spot where my teeth sank in. I paused, my teeth were centimeters away; instead of them, my lips touched his crystalline skin, pecking his neck. “I can’t do it… I can’t do it again.”  
“Maybe you turned me because you didn’t want to accidentally hurt me,” He spoke his thesis.  
I faced him. “Timmy, don’t say that!”  
“Am I wrong?”  
“Yes? No? Egh--I don’t know! I mean, yes, I didn’t want to accidentally hurt you, but I never wanted you to become this! I never wanted to seal your fate with this curse! I never wanted you to suffer what I have to bear! I,” I took a deep breath of the crisp forest air. “I miss the old Tim--When you were still breathing with a beating heart. Lying in bed with your warm body and pretending to sleep with you, you unconsciously pulling me closer and holding me overnight, your pretty, sparkling blue eyes--I miss it all,” My eyebrows began to curl. “Everything you physically used to be… is gone.”  
“So what if I’m not human anymore?” He cupped both sides of my jaw. “The old me you fell in love with is still here--I’m still here and holding you in my arms, aren’t I? Everybody goes through changes, no matter how big or small. And that change has already started. With new changes come new beginnings, and we can take that to our advantage--Start over.”  
“But I don’t want to…! Everything was perfect before I screwed up… It’s just not the same…”  
“It doesn’t have to be.”  
I tucked my arms in his chest as he hugged me. I felt safe and protected in his arms, like he chased away my fears and demons.  
One of his hands shifted up my shoulders. “Hold on.”  
“Why?”  
“Because I’m about to drop a hundred feet down.”  
“That’s how high up we are?”  
“About.”  
“Before you do that, close your eyes.”  
Tim’s eyelids touched and were frozen still.   
I brushed his bangs away until my palms met his cheekbones. My lips nudged to his; nothing more than just a soft and gentle kiss. His bangs fell back to his cheeks when I drifted my arms around his neck. “Okay, now I’m ready.”  
He grinned at me and pecked me back. “You’re adorable,” He murmured. Then scooped my legs from under me in his arms and dropped from the branch. Our hair flew upwards as we fell, then Tim’s feet jammed into the ground shortly after. His arms loosened from my body.  
I faced him. “So, what else do you wanna do before we go back?”  
“I saw a nice meadow we ran by,” He answered. “We could hang out there.”  
“I like that idea,” I smiled. “I didn’t even know there were meadows in this forest.”  
“Every forest has a meadow.”  
“You’re the only meadow in my forest.” [Not in a sexual way. She's saying he's the only beautiful thing in her life (her forest).]  
Tim grinned, his ruby eyes said ‘you’re adorable’, then he kissed me.  
In the meadow, Tim and I laid in the fresh, green grass freckled with flowers and the whole area was illuminated by the bright full moon light. I cuddled on Tim’s chest, my fingers curled on his collarbone as his hand rested on mine. A canine scent began to raid my nose. I held myself up on Tim, scanning the trees in the woods; he leaned on his elbows and looked around. “You smell that too, huh?” He asked.  
I took a moment. “We should be cautious. As far as I know, werewolves shouldn’t be in Cullen territory.”  
“I only smell one,” Then Tim caught a glimpse of golden eyes glowing in the darkness. “We’re being stalked,” He placed a hand down on the grass and brought himself on his feet, continuing to scan the forest after the unsettling eyes disappeared. I sat up and listened to my senses.  
A brown wolf emerged from the lingering shadows, charging at Tim and pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. Tim pushed its muzzle and sharp teeth away from his face. Forgetting about his strength, he struggled to keep the wolf’s face away from his.  
“Tim, don’t kill him!” I shouted.  
“Why not!?” Tim growled.  
“He’s a werewolf!”  
“How can you tell?”  
“Because werewolves are inherently bigger than regular wolves!”  
Tim shoved the werewolf off him, making its back hit a tree. “That makes sense.”  
I stood and stared at Tim like he was in trouble.  
“What? He attacked me first!”  
I rolled my eyes with a sigh. Then my memory occurred to me. “Wait,” I paused. “Remember Carlisle and the others said they had an alliance with a pack of wolves? What if he’s one of them?”  
“That would explain why he’s in vampire territory.”  
The werewolf transformed into an almost naked, muscular, extremely tan man with short black hair and chestnut eyes.  
“If he’s an ally,” I continued. “Then he must have attacked you because of your red eyes. Every other vampire except for the Cullens and us have red eyes and are considered bad. His ambush must’ve been a sign of protection for the Cullens.”  
“Then why didn’t he attack you? You’re with me, so that would be a good enough argument why he would think you were a threat as well.”  
“I don’t know. My hypothesis is still stuck on the eye thing. I mean, look at you. Red eyes. Look at me. Gold eyes--”  
“They’re amber.”  
“Whatever, same difference.”  
“No, there’s a difference.”  
“Just shut your face, okay?” My attention drifted to the werewolf. I approached him with caution, taking careful steps.  
“Who are you?” The werewolf questioned.  
“First, tell us who you are, then we’ll answer,” Tim replied with sass.  
“Jacob Black.”  
“Tim Drake, and my girlfriend Dani. Why did you attack us, Jacob?”  
“Isn’t it obvious? You’re trespassing, you don’t belong here.”  
“We’re allies with the Cullens,” I answered. “We ran away from home because we didn’t feel safe, so we asked for their help and now we’re here.”  
“Oh yeah? You’re not from around here. How do you know them?”  
“I’ve been friends with Carlisle and the others for a little over a century.”  
“And what’s your relationship with them?” Questioned Tim.  
“I’ve known Bella since we were kids, then she met Edward after moving back from Arizona. You can imagine there’s been some disagreements between us from there.”  
“So why did you jump Tim first?” I continued.  
“Well his eyes had ‘threat’ written all over them.”  
“I told you!” I turned to Tim and pointed at him. “But, there is an explanation to that.”  
“What is it? That he’s a killer like the rest of them?”  
“No! We’re both vegetarians! His eyes are red because he’s a newborn. If you get some clothes on, we can explain everything back at the house.”  
Tim pulled me away. “You didn’t tell him the truth,” He hissed at me quietly.  
“You shut your ass up!” I snapped in a whisper.  
He raised a brow.  
“Sorry, that kinda just came out. And technically, I didn’t lie. Newborns do have red eyes.”  
“You still lied! My eyes aren’t red because of that! I bit someone, remember?”  
“Yes, but I wasn’t going to tell him that!”  
“Do you have faulty memory? Because I strictly remember my eyes were first red after you turned me, then gold for a while for drinking animal blood, and now back to red again because I drank a person’s blood.”  
“Me faulty memory?! I have more memories than you ‘cause I lived longer! I know what I’m doing, Timothy!”  
“I’m done with this conversation.”  
“Me too!”  
When we turned back to Jacob, he was gone. We couldn’t pick up his scent around us. We ran back to the house--I went straight to our room and sat on the sofa in silence while Tim tinkered with his motorcycle in the garage as we blew off steam.   
Rosalie walked in and spotted me sunken into the cushions. “Hey.”  
“Hey,” I stared at the white wall.  
“How’s it going?” She sat next to me. I could tell she sensed my frustration.  
“I don’t know,” I sighed.  
“You want to talk about it?” Her voice and tone was subtle, like she was inviting me to engage in conversation.  
“I guess. It’s just Tim. We had a little fight and now we’re not talking until we feel better.”  
“That must have been some fight.”  
“I mean, I love him so much and nothing can change that, but sometimes his logic and protectiveness infuriates me.”  
“What happened?”  
“He thought I lied when I didn’t, then he used common logic and memory against me, and… I don’t really want to go into detail. I wish I could just go down there and hug him and pretend none of it ever happened, but… knowing him, he wouldn’t let me till he lets it go. He’s in a bad mood right now because of me, and all I can do for him is sit back and leave him alone. I understand he wants his space and sort things out himself, but if that didn’t happen, I’d probably be in his arms and cuddling with him on this couch right now.”  
“Give him time. He’ll want you back soon enough.”  
“I hope…”  
Rosalie and I kept talking. We spoke about Emmitt, what Tim was like in his human life, Gotham City, but I never seemed to bother about the encounter with Jacob. Then the next thing we knew, Emmitt wanted to steal her away. After an hour or two of just talking, I decided to check how Tim was doing in the garage; I couldn’t stop thinking about him. When I walked in and approached him, he stopped--He knew I was there. Even though I didn’t make a sound, he knew. He didn’t move at all, he just stared at the motor of his bike without a single noise coming from his body. I wasn’t sure what to do at the moment. Should I stay? Should I go? I don’t know. But I was willing to chance it. I walked up behind him, then dropped on my knees, wrapped my arms around him, and rested my head on his shoulderblade. But Tim didn’t move, nor did he flinch. I shut my eyes and squeezed a little tighter. “Timmy, I want you back!” I confessed. “I already miss you, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it earlier! I know you're mad about it, but—”  
“I’m not mad,” He finally spoke. “I thought about it--In your perspective. But I’m still upset with you.”  
“Timmy, please… Please come back… I’m sorry I put you in this dark hole. I’m almost begging you.”  
“Then beg,” He felt no remorse, then he continued on the motor.  
My eyes shot open. I felt my heart shatter like a thrown rock through a window. I let my arms drop, and my forehead pressed against his back. He’s just in a bad mood, I told myself. He’ll come back. He always does.  
“Danielle,” Tim said. “Leave--Before I hurt you,” His tone sounded like a threat, but to translate, he was protecting me from himself. He didn’t want his attitude to unleash his inner demons and lash out at me. “Please, just go.”  
I stood and left him alone. I’ve only seen him like this once or twice before; pushing me away and shutting me out to keep himself and his dark mind from hurting me. I sat on the front porch alone in the darkness and wet weather, turning away anyone that tried to talk to me. By the next morning, Tim found me curled up in a ball and soaked. He had my favorite jacket he wears, the super warm, olive green, hooded military-style one with, like, eight pockets; two of which were on the inside. He sat behind me and opened his jacket while his hands were in the pockets, I was between his legs as he held me against his torso with his jacket around both of us. “I’m sorry,” He pecked my neck. “I was acting like a jerk.”  
“Yeah, you kinda were,” I didn’t hold back.  
“I just didn’t want to hurt you.”  
“I know.”  
He then nuzzled my neck, then whispered. “I love you so much, Dani…”  
“I love you too, Timothy,” I whispered back. My old self was brought back thanks to Tim, and I felt warm and safe with him again.  
He sat there slowly getting soaked by the mist with me.  
By nightfall, I didn’t see Tim anywhere around the house. I found Esme near the kitchen. “Have you seen Tim?” I asked.  
“No, I haven’t,” Esme spoke softly.  
I tried calling him on my phone, no answer; that tells me he’s busy, but with what? I searched the woods outside the house, trying my best to stay outside werewolf territory, but I couldn’t pick up his scent at all. Back at the Cullens’, I checked the closet in our bedroom. His Red Robin suit was gone. I rushed to find Carlisle almost panicking. “Tim’s gone! He took his suit and left!” I made myself calm down. “I can go find him.”  
“No,” Carlisle said firmly. “I’ll send Edward and Rosalie to search the town.”  
“But I know how to find him. We both know we don’t want him to accidentally hurt someone like he did a couple days ago.”  
“We don’t want the same from you either.”  
He made me remember turning Tim. “Okay. But just Edward, please--We don’t need a search party. Tim can usually be found on rooftops. And can you tell Edward not to interfere with his work? He doesn’t like it, and I don’t want there to be any tension between them.”  
“I will.”  
“Thanks. It’ll be harder to find him in his suit. He typically wears a black mask to hide his identity, and the suit itself is red and black with a black leather and gold harness and a black cape, and he goes by Red Robin.”  
“I’ll tell him that.”  
Edward brought Red Robin back through the front door at midnight, and Red was pissed.  
“Red,” I stormed at him. “What the hell? You know you’re not allowed to go out like this anymore!”  
“Well what else am I supposed to do?” He argued back.  
“Not this!”  
“If criminals aren’t going to put themselves in jail, who will? Bella’s dad?”  
“Yes!”  
“You can’t expect me to do nothing about it!”  
“I know, and I love you’re like that, but you need to lay off it for a few months until you’re not a newborn anymore.”  
“You know I can’t do that.”  
“Just try. For the people’s sake,” Then I spotted a handgun stuffed in his utility belt, I took it. “Tim, what’s this?”  
He gently held the barrel from my hands. “It’s the suspected murder weapon. I’m going to look at it later tonight for further investigation.”  
“Make sure you hand it over to Bella’s dad when you’re done.”  
“I will, you don’t need to babysit me.”  
“I outlive you, and you’re still new to this, so I kinda do,” I held his face in my palms and kissed his lips.  
“Will you excuse me,” Tim maneuvered around me to the living room. I knew he enjoyed the kiss, but he also wanted to finish his work.  
I stood behind the couch as he sat down with the gun on the coffee table. He took off his glove, Victoria stood next to me, putting a hand on his shoulder when he touched the gun.   
Tim paused. He took off the other glove and held the handgun again. “This doesn’t make sense!”  
“What is it, Tim?” I asked.  
“I couldn’t get anything off this thing! The vision was there, but it was blank! I couldn’t see a single thing about it!” He bent over, planted his elbows on his knees and held his face trying to think—Then his head lifted. “I think I know why,” Tim stood around the couch and approached Victoria. “You did something to me. Something to prevent me from using my power when you touched me. And I’m gonna find out what it is,” He skipped backwards, then jogged to our room.  
I looked at her. “I’m sure it wasn’t you, but we shouldn’t doubt him when he’s onto something.”  
Later that night, Tim called Victoria and I to the bedroom. When we walked inside, he was on the sofa on his silver laptop. “I know why my ability didn’t work. Victoria has energy absorption—The ability for one to drain another’s power energy through physical touch. If she were to touch a human, she would be draining them of their stamina. Thanks to that, I had to examine the weapon the old way.”  
“So where is it?” I asked.  
“Back at the police station like you wanted me to. Victoria, I highly suggest you keep your hands to yourself unless it’s absolutely necessary. We don’t want you accidentally doing that again.”  
“I did feel weird when it happened, but I thought it was nothing.” Victoria admitted.  
“Well now you know,” Tim closed the laptop and set it aside. “Now will you excuse us, Dani and I have something to do.”  
Victoria left and Tim closed the door behind her.  
“What was that for?” I questioned.  
“Well, don’t you want to undress me? My job’s done, and I won’t be coming back to this suit for a long, painful while.”  
My face lit up. “You are wearing underwear under that thing, right?”  
“Well that’s for me to know and for you to find out.”  
I lined my hands down his legs and felt seams under the suit. “Ah, so you are.”  
“What do you care?”  
“I really don’t,” I pushed the Red Robin symbol on his harness and unlocked it, then the same on his belt. The belt dropped on the floor as I pulled the harness off his shoulders, then dropped it on the floor. “At least your eyes match the suit.”  
Tim and I giggled together. I removed his breathable black leather boots, then stripped the suit itself from his body. He pulled on blue jeans and lied on the sofa, having me lay on top. I cuddled on his naked chest and closed my eyes as he held me tight.   
Hours went by when Bella opened the door. “Tim, we need you for a hunt.”  
Tim remained silent, hovering a finger over his lips then pointing at me.  
“She can’t sleep. She knows that, right?”  
“She likes to pretend. It makes her feel human. What do you need?”  
“We need you for a hunt.”  
He kissed my head and tapped me to get up. My eyes opened, then I got off him like he needed me to. He stood and followed Bella out, I followed behind. Carlisle and Rosalie were in the living room waiting.   
“Dani,” Carlisle began. “Stay here. We just need Tim.”  
“Do we?” Asked Rose, unwilling to hunt with Tim.  
“Yes.”  
I hugged Tim from the side, pinning his arms against his body, rested my head on his shoulder and gave Carlisle the puppy dog eyes, pleading him.  
He gazed into my eyes for a moment before making a final decision. “Okay. You can come.”  
I smiled and let go. Carlisle, Bella, and Rosalie began to move out.  
“You gave him the eyes, didn’t you?” Tim’s tone was unsurprised.  
“Yup.”  
“I don’t know how you’re so good at that. You can make people change their mind so easily by just giving a little twinkle in your eyes. I don’t-- … How?”  
“I just have one of those faces.”  
“You certainly do.”  
Tim and I caught up with the others outside the house. We walked through the woods searching for something to hunt. It grew dark when we stalked a black bear, the others left to find one more kill before salvaging blood and heading back. To get him used to his vampire life, I gave Tim the honor of killing the bear. At first, he refused to, asking me to do it for him. I somehow was able to convince him into ending the hunt, telling him I can’t babysit him every time. Even though he didn’t want to, he knew it was necessary for our survival so he could protect me. When he went to tackle and bite it, he held back and hesitated, then finished it off. He moved off the bear and embraced me tightly with his forehead on my shoulder, shivering. He hated what he just did, even though it was part of his training.  
“That was the worst,” Tim murmured, “Please… Don’t make me again…”  
I stroked the back of his head and neck. “First kills are never a good feeling… But I need you to get used to this because eventually, I won’t be around to take the kill for you. You’ll have to hunt alone.”  
“I know I don’t have a choice… I hate it… I hate what I’ve become…”  
“You’re not the only one… Nobody likes their vampiric life--Not even me. I was just like you, I never wanted to take a life. But we’re left with no choice for our survival. I’m sorry you had to do that… Timmy… Look at me…”  
Tim lifted his head from my shoulder and faced me. His face was pink and his eyes were glossy, eyelashes wet with escaped tears.  
I wiped my sleeve across his eyes to dry them off, then held his face. “You are strong. You possess one of the strongest, most perseverant souls I’ve ever met. Nothing will never compare to your experiences and the life challenges you faced. Okay?”  
Tim nodded in sorrow and guilt for his first kill.  
“Could I see that handsome smile of yours?” I just wanted to make him smile and feel better.  
He couldn’t help but grin. Seeing him smile made me smile.  
“You had to use my own trick on me,” He guessed with a hint of charm in his tone.  
“If it works on me, it works on you,” I replied optimistically.  
“It works for everybody.”  
I took his hands and dragged him to the bear he hunted so we could take care of it and take its blood back to the Cullen house. Then something attacked me, launching me across the air--I broke through a tree, then another, and finally hit the ground. Tim called my name in concern. He faced whatever attacked me and attempted to attack, but it took him by the shirt and threw him my direction. He stumbled, and his body dragged across the dirt beside me. Tim lifted himself onto his elbows and checked on me. I sat up and saw what my attacker was. It was a vampire wearing an old grey military uniform with golden buttons and a white color that had three gold stars. He had a golden sash around his waist and a saber hanging from his belt. He was pale with short brown hair and a big bushy beard with streaks of silver hair. His eyes… Red. Fear took my voice. “Stonewall Jackson…!” I breathed.  
“You remember me?” Asked the Confederate general.  
“How could I not? You dominated our forces!”  
Tim tried to ponder what he found himself into. “‘Stonewall Jackson,’ why does that name sound familiar?”  
“He killed thousands!” I aggressively explained. “He was a Confederate war hero.”  
Tim eyed Jackson’s grey uniform. “I see it now.”  
Jackson stared at Tim with his bloodshot eyes. “You look familiar, boy.”  
“Leave him out of it!” I felt the urge to protect Tim from Jackson. “He never fought in the war!”  
“Ancestry, maybe?” Tim guessed to me.  
I turned my head to him. “Tim, I need you. I thought we were safe here, but we’re not. I don’t even know how he found me! Jackson’s stronger than I’ve ever seen, but you’re stronger! You’re still a newborn--You still have your human blood in you!”  
“But he’s a war general!” He complained.  
“And you’re a master martial artist! Listen to me. His eyes are bleeding red. You have to kill him.  
“You’re asking me the impossible.”  
“No, you’re refusing to destroy something that has killed God knows how many! I can’ defeat him alone. I need you. You are stronger than me and him because you still have your blood in you, you still have Victoria’s blood in you. He will kill us both if you don’t fight back.”  
Tim thought about it and considered. “Okay,” He then stood and pulled me up with him, “Let’s get this over with. Race you?” he smirked at me.  
I smiled at his suggestion, then whispered to him. “Aim for the head.”  
He agreed with his eyes.  
“Hey, Stonewall!” I called. “Catch me if you can!” I sprinted off through the trees and heard Jackson chasing after me. Tim sprinted around, keeping his distance as he ran beside the general. When he found the right time, he curved in and rammed Stonewall Jackson into a tree.  
“A mere boy can’t defeat me!” Jackson claimed.  
Tim chuckled. “I’m not just a mere boy, General. I’m a bird of surprise. I know your story. Your last words were supposed to be ‘Let us cross the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.’”  
“You watch your tongue!”  
“I have to admit, it’s honestly an honor to meet a man of history.”  
“What are you doing?”  
Tim glanced at me rushing his direction and smirked; he backed away from shoving Jackson against the tree. “On your left.”  
I ran up and slammed my shoulder into Jackson, launching him away. Tim looked at me for a second, then jumped into a tree and crouched on the branches, stalking his prey patiently like an owl. Jackson stomped at me. “You caused me problems for the last time, woman!”  
“Maybe because your racism started the war in the first place!”  
“Those slaves have learned their place--You will learn yours!”  
Any time now, Tim… “I already learned mine. It’s with the one I love…”  
Before the general could get his on me to finish me off, Tim dropped on his shoulders. Jackson tried to get Tim off him. “What the fu--”  
“Language!” Tim hooked his chin and tore the general’s head from his shoulders, then jumped off. He stood next to me as we watched Stonewall Jackson’s body collapse with his head two feet away from it. “That is the first and last time I’m taking somebody’s life. Never ask me to do that again.”  
“I won’t--” I began.  
“AND you’re not telling anyone about this.”  
“Not a chance. Do I look like I brag about you all the time?”  
Tim folded his arms and stared down at me.  
“I guess I do do that, huh?”  
“Ya think?”  
“Tim? I know you’re not taking the burden of Jackson lightly--But by destroying one vampire, you just saved countless lives. I know you’re used to that feeling of accomplishment,”  
“I’m not,” He interrupted softly.  
“What?”  
“It astounds me, actually. How one man can prevent more deaths than he can count just by doing one thing through commitment. It amazes me. And I’m not just talking about myself.”  
“I didn’t know.”  
Tim stared at the cold corpse in front of us, “Looks like the Union wins--Again. Destroying a priceless and legendary relic like him has to be one of my biggest regrets. But I have my own priceless artifact right here,” he squeezed me against his body and smooched my cheek.  
“Did you just call me old?”  
“I’m too scared to answer that.”  
“You should be.”  
Bella, Carlisle, and Rosalie found us after salvaging our bear. They said they heard our shouting and wanted to know what happened, so we told them the story. I never expected to run into an old nemesis after all these years. I liked to think Jasper and I were the only ones left from the Civil War, but I knew there were more out there. I always felt like I was all that’s left of the Union that remains, but that was a false feeling when there could still be those soldiers I turned in the medical center running around out there somewhere. We found a place away from trees for us to build a fire and throw Stonewall Jackson in. As we watched him be engulfed in flames, I felt a small difference in myself. It felt like some of my trauma was scorched away in ashes. But trauma like that could never truly burn.


End file.
